meet your wise women facilitators

Aoife Lowden is a visionary daughter of Éiriú. Working intimately with the land, ancestors and elements, Aoife is devoted to remembering the ancient ways of Éiriú and surrounding Isles. Born into a broken lineage without a connection to her ancestors, Aoife has been on a quest to re-weave the fabric of her lineage into a tapestry of wholeness again. Her ancestry is that of Irish, Scottish, Anglo-Saxon & Norse descent. Her recently reclaimed surname is ‘‘Lowden’’ a Scottish name which means a ‘‘fire on a beacon hill’’. Aoife is passionate about her ancestry and supports others in repairing their ancestral relationship - including those of the Irish Diaspora further afield.

Through fire and native plant ceremonies, sacred site tours, retreats, and ancestral celebrations, Aoife has been working on healing retreats since 2018 as a sacred site guide, ceremonialist and plant medicine facilitator.

Aoife offers a space for others to heal, pray, and listen to the land. She is passionate about reclaiming prayer - as it is a pathway to healing & connection with the divine. She is a bridge and translator between the worlds. Her deepest learning received has been by the fireside, in the heart of the forest, where she lived for some years – this experience cracked open her ability to converse and commune with the Plants & Trees. It is from this place that she teaches, and shares embodied wisdom that has come directly from her lived experiences.

The prayer that Aoife carries in her heart & work is that we all may remember who we are - as sacred beings, belonging to Earth - and from this place, reclaim our power and sovereignty, act accordingly - to restore balance & equanimity in the world. That we may leave a legacy of beauty, health and prosperity for the generations ahead. That we may heal & feel the wounds of the past - processing undigested grief that our ancestors simply could not - lightening the path for our children to come. Re-weaving the threads that were shattered & fragmented through colonisation, through capitalism & patriarchy - restoring the sacred, returning to the old ways, that our stories may be told, that our traditions may be honoured & passed on. That our cultures may be cherished and celebrated. That land may be tended to, that the wells & rivers may run clear and pure. That our mother tongue may fill our mouths and be spoken to our children. That we may reclaim what was stolen, broken, taken away and forgotten. Stoking the embers of a fire almost lost, but could never be quenched. This is the remembering we have come here for. This is the prayer of my life.

Week 2 Feb 8th

Dee Mulrooney aka Growler is an emerging Irish artist, living and working in Berlin.

Raised working-class in a small nation dominated by Catholicism and men, she now lives as a teacher, a mother, and an artist discovering the joy of playing with taboos and visions of female identity that would until all to recently have seen her locked away.

Growler is Dee’s alter-ego and performance piece. She is an 82 year old drum banging shamanic vulva living in exile. Using the vehicle of Growler, Dee delves into the depths of woman. The anonymity of the costume allows Growler to speak her mind on taboo topics like sexuality, religion, patriarchy and sexual violence.

Driven out of her home by eviction and a poor quality of life, Growler has appointed herself the voice of the scorned, forgotten woman, She explores the flexible and multifarious possibilities of women’s sovereignty. Growler is a healer, a teacher, an elder and a liberator of the feminine.

Week 3 Feb 15th

Tara Brading s a women’s educator, storyteller and songstress, focusing on uplifting nature-based feminine wisdom & ancestral teachings from Ireland & England. She's been on a journey of remembering and reclamation for over ten years, honoring the earth based feminine wisdom left in her blood and bones.

She's the creator of The Roundhouse, which is an online community that lovingly guides women into nature based feminine wisdom from the Irish traditions. She's also the creator of Grail Priestess, a deep-dive program that guides women into heartfelt connection with their English heritage. She also runs a variety of other courses, events and workshops that serve thousands of women every year.

She journeys to Ireland & England regularly for pilgrimage, and currently lives on the ancestral lands of the Ute and Arapaho people in the mountains of so-called Colorado (USA).

Week 4 Feb 22nd/Week 8 March 21st

Sionnáin is a daughter and guardian of the waters.

She is also a song carrier, musician and quantum coherence therapist from the West of Éire.

Since walking upon the hill of Uisneach on Summer Solstice in 2014, her path has been devoted to honouring, celebrating & remembering, with the Tuatha Dé Danann.

Through her deepening relationship with the land, waters and language of an Ghaeilge, she has found her path woven with the awakening of the songlines through invoking the ancient Irish practice of IMBAS - from which she then channels songs from different places that call her.

Sionnáin has been on a deep journey of grief-tending in this lifetime, instigated by her many challenging life-initiations since birth. Within this last year in particular she has deepened this practice, through her immersions with the Keen supported by guide, teacher and friend Geraldine Ahern and many other women at the Maiden & Cailleachs / Grandmothers Keen’s.

Weaving threads of this ancient tradition for these times together with the restorative practice of Yoga Nidra another very powerful resource she has worked with for many years and completed a training in the year past.

Week 5 Feb 29th

Kitty Maguire is a skilled space holder, who has pioneered Menstruality work in Ireland for almost 10 years. Providing therapeutic sessions, rituals and circles for women, girls and people who want to nurture a healthier embodied connection to their womb and cycles. A leader in Ireland for reclaiming the menstrual cycle as a vital sign, a teacher, a spiritual practice through a trauma sensitive holistic approach. Kitty also holds space for pregnancy release circles. For those in need of healing from an abortion, miscarriage or stillbirth.

Kitty has held space for thousands of people through the years. Through her comprehensive training Red Alchemy, she shares the wisdom of the cycle through the, spirit, science and sacredness of Menstruality and Irish Spirituality.

Kitty’s work welcomes anyone who would like to connect, heal, understand or feel more empowered by their menstrual cycle, womb sovereignty and generational healing.

Kitty has supported many women on their journey to becoming a menstruality circle facilitator. Alchemising their pain into purpose so they can share beautiful, creative, trauma sensitive, educational or healing experiences in their communities.

Week 6 - March 6th

Trish Cameron “Lightning Star” is an impeccable medicine woman with 30 years of study in the Indigenous ways and practices of the Celtic and pre-Celtic peoples.

She is a founding member of the Temple of Éiriú, a collective whose mission statement is the reclamation of ancient Irish spiritual traditions.

Trish believes that all peoples have a large reservoir of ancient spiritual wisdom and she is dedicated to working with how we can come together as a global community with this knowledge to bring about positive change for ourselves and the planet.

She began her sexuality training in the 80's with Anne Dickson, whilst simultaenously training in drama & dance. From this fusion she began offering sexuality courses to women employing mediums such as storytelling, artwork & dance.

Star has also trained in breathwork, offering water re-birthing ceremonies for women. She is a sexual abuse councilor sexual education trainer & facilitator and has been supporting women in understanding & reclaiming their sexuality for over 40 years. Trish has been working for many years in co-creation with Medbh the Irish sovereignty Goddess, and this relationship is at the forefront of her Divine Feminine Sexuality work & teachings.

Week 7 - March 14th

Deirdre Wadding is a former primary school teacher & Co. Councilor, now professional Storyteller and Founder/ Teacher at Coire Sois School of Irish Spirituality, where she trains women as Irish Pagan Priestesses and offers workshops and classes on Irish Mythology, Irish Pagan practice and the Bardic Arts both in-person and online.

The key to all of her work is the connection with the sacred in the Land, with the Ancestors and Irish Mythology.

The central theme and concept of Coire Sois is Sovereignty, the power of the Sacred Land embodied by our Sovereignty Goddesses and mirrored by the stepping into our own core selves in alignment with the sacred energy of the Land and of our Ancestral Deities. To be a Priestess is an act of becoming , of stepping into the role of mediator of that energy through ourselves . It is a.path of dedication, commitment and service and is not for the fainthearted.

Deirdre lives in South Wexford close to the sea and the ancient druid site , now a Christian pilgrimage site, of Cluain na mBan/ Lady's Island.

Week 10 - 4th April

For Jen, her whole life is about connection and exploring the ways in which we connect to one another, to our bodies, to our own nature and to the nature around us. It is her passion and felt purpose to guide others back into connection with themselves, their health, the earth and the sea which she does through the various gatherings and events she runs such as Swimming into Connection gatherings, Returning to Ritual, Earthing into the Medicine and her Herbal Medicine practice where she works with people one on one to bring them back into connection with their body, health and well being through diet, herbal medicine and lifestyle changes.

Jen is a qualified herbalist after training for many years in Ireland and comes from a lineage of herbalists stemming from Donegal with her father who is a herbalist and her great-grandmother was the local 'handywoman/bean feasa', a self taught herbalist and midwife for her local community. She is also a qualified Yin & hatha yoga instructor, has trained in permaculture and is continuously learning new ways in which to facilitate connection to nature in its many forms. Jen lives in the beautifully wild and magical West Cork where she has set up her herbal practice along with travelling back to Dublin often to run various events & workshops.

Week 11 11th April

Jen Murphy is a Celtic mythologist, anthropologist and creative dreamer from Baile Átha Cliath. Her apprenticeship to following her soul’s breadcrumbs over the past twenty years has guided her work and formal studies in Medieval Irish and Celtic Studies, Anthropology and Development, Creativity and Innovation, and Jungian Psychology and Art Therapy.

Jen supports creatives from diverse fields to (re)connect with the mythopoetic imagination of Ireland. Using ancient wisdom to inform modern creativity through myth, dreamwork, imagination and the body, her work to date at the Celtic School of Embodiment has emphasised a reclamation of the Irish mythic feminine.

Jen’s approach is anchored in the five elements:

Enchantment (Wind): Unlocking the heart to the everlasting in myth, folk and fairy tales, honouring our creative spirit as the highest form of our soul’s reality.

Beauty (Earth): Witnessing the beauty that lives behind a facial expression, a word, a bodily gesture, a creation that gifts it its soul.

Craft (Fire): Engaging in the dream that comes prior to our thinking, sowing this into our craft with heart and humanity trusting that it will grow under the light of those who need it.

Legacy (Water): Dreaming for our culture, becoming a creative ancestor.

Co-creation (Spirit/the Sacred Centre): Co-creating with the ancestors of the Otherworld, and through collaboration and community with others, nurturing our creative clans.

Week 12 Thursday 18th April

Cáit Ní Riain comes from the heart of Ireland, the county of Tiobraid Árann. She is a traditional Irish singer and multi instrumentalist.

Cáit holds an MA in Irish Folklore and Ethnology from University College Dublin, where she specialised in the function and meaning of singing in small rural communities in Ireland. She teaches yoga and pilates and is deeply interested in the cultivation of deeper embodiment in all bodies. She is also a sacred sexuality teacher and runs workshops and Red Tents throughout the year, holding space for women to explore the layers of their sexual conditioning and the restoration of their erotic innocence and pleasure potential.

Cáit is currently based in Corca Dhuibhne, the Gaeltacht (Irish speaking) region of West Kerry and is working as a musician as well as leading people into deeper connection to their voice and re-membering indigenous wisdom through the Irish singing tradition.

Week 13 - Thursday 25th April

Gemma McGowan, from Co. Meath has been walking the path of Priestess and Bean Feasa for over 20 years. Seeking truth and genuine connection to the Divine source started in childhood, when a strong interest in world mythologies and a highly inquisitive mind caused Gemma to reject the prescribed religious, dogmatic teachings being taught in Irish schools.

Studying music and theatre in University in England and being away from Ireland, made Gemma realise the depth of connection she feels for her homeland and the ‘uaigneas’ (deep loneliness) she feels when she leaves. Studying the origins of theatre spoke to both the inherent ritualist and storyteller in Gemma’s soul.

Early in her spiritual development Gemma was attracted to the Wiccan path which was one of the very few Pagan/Spiritual paths available at the time in Ireland, and trained to 3rd Degree High Priestess over 7 years. Wanting to delve deeper into healing work Gemma then studied Shamanic healing practices, Kinesiology and sound healing.

Gemma has worked as a dedicated Priestess to Brighid and Mannanán and in close working relationships with a number of other Irish deities including Boann, an Cailleach, Dagda and Lugh.

In recent years she has been working closely with ‘‘Aoife’’, a lesser known Goddess of the Tuatha de Dannan who was cursed, turned into a crane bird and eventually became the body of And Cor Bolg/the Crane Bag, one of the most iconic magical items in Irish Mythology. Gemma has developed a new system of magical practice based on the story of the Crane Bag and the magical items within it, with Aoife as the co-creator and vessel of that magic.

Gemma has hosted many large scale ritual events and has performed many retellings of Irish mythological stories, combining story, song and sound. In 2023 Gemma studied Organic Horticulture with a view towards self sufficiency and sustainable agriculture. Gemma lives in Meaths, World Unesco Heritage site on the banks of the river Boyne, named for the Goddess Boann, very close to the ancient monuments of Dowth, Newgrange and Knowth and spends much of her time growing herbs and vegetables, walking the land with her dogs and singing to the ancient landscape of Bru na Boinne.